Foldable container from plastic material



Sept. 21, 1965 A. SCHMITT 3,207,357

FOLDABLE CONTAINER FROM PLASTIC MATERIAL Filed Jan. 28, 1963 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ALOIS SCHMITT Sept. 21, 1965 A. scHMlTT FOLDABLECONTAINER FROM PLASTIC MATERIAL Filed Jan. 28, 1963 2. Sheets-Sheet 2 IA LO/ INVENTOR.

5 SCHMITT United States Patent Office Patented Sept. 21, 1965 '1 Claim.61. 220-62) The present invention relates to container and morespecific-ally to foldable containers made from plastic material.

It is an object of the present invention to provide for a foldablecontainer which can easily be folded from a flat position in which allportions thereof are located substantially in a plane to a foldedposition in which an endless side wall of the container extendstransverse, preferably normal to an end wall thereof.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide for such afoldable container which will be properly maintained in its foldedposition.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide for afoldable container as mentioned above which is adapted to hold in itsinterior not only solid articles but also material in paste form, moistmaterial or even liquids.

It is yet an additional object of the present invention to :provide forsuch a foldable container which will properly maintain its foldedposition and which after use for shipping or storage purpose can beeasily transformed again into its fiat position so that the emptycontainers may be shipped or stored in a very space-saving condition.

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to pro vide for such afoldable container which can be manufactured in an extremely simplemanner so that it can be mass produced at very reasonable cost.

With these objects in view, the container of the present inventionmainly comprises a sheet of plastic material having a plurality ofperipheral edge portions and being formed inwardly of the edge portionthereof with folding grooves defining in the sheet a central polygonalportion and between the edge portions and grooves a plurality of outerportions. The outer portions are f'oldable along the folding groovesrelative to the central portion between a fiat position in which allportions of the sheet are located substantially in a plane and a foldedposition in which the outer portions extend transverse and to one sideof the plane of the central portion and abut with side edges thereofagainst each other to form a continuous side wall of the container, oneend wall of which is formed by the central portion. Means are alsoprovided integral with the outer portions for releasably holding thesame in the folded position. These means preferably include snapfasteners which may be integrally molded likewise from plastic materialduring the molding of the aforementioned sheet, or the snap fastenersmay be, subsequently to the molding of the sheet, fastened thereto byheat sealing or otherwise and in this case the snap fasteners may alsobe made from metal.

The sheet may also include a plurality of substantially triangularconnecting portions extending between adjacent side edges of the outerportions integral therewith and in this case the folding grooves arealso formed along the side edges of the outer portions and an additionalfolding groove is formed in each of said triangular portions ex tendingfrom corners of the central portion of the sheet to the peripherythereof and dividing each of said triangu'lar connecting portions intotwo substantially equal triangular portions which will abut against eachother when the sheet is folded from the flat to the folded position. Inthis arrangement cooperating snap fasteners are provided on the equaltriangular portions for holding the same after folding in abuttingrelationship.

The means for releasably holding the sheet in folded position may alsocomprise a flap integral with one of the side edge-s of each outerportion which extends over and beyond the side edges of the outerportion adjacent thereto and which is folded against the outer portionadjacent thereto and in this case a pair of cooperating snap fastenersare respectively arranged on each flap and on the outer portion adjacentthereto for releasably connecting each flap to the outer .portionadjacent thereto so as to hold the sheet in its folded position.

If the containers are to be made of relatively large size the outerportions which form the endless side wall of the container may beprovided with reinforcing ribs integral-ly molded with the sheet, or theouter portions may be formed with corrugations which may be formedeither during molding of the sheet or subsequent thereto.

Likewise, the fol-ding grooves which define in the sheet narrowelongated portions of thinner wall thickness than the remainder of thesheet may be formed directly during the molding of the sheet, or thesegrooves may be subsequently formed for instance by a drawing orembossing operation after the sheet has been molded or otherwise formedwith uniform thickness.

The necessary cover for the container may be formed in the same mannerfrom a f-oldable sheet as described above and obviously in this case thecentral portion of the cover has to be made to slightly largerdimensions than the bottom part of the container so that the side wallof the cover may extend over the upper portion of the side wall of thebottom part of the container.

On the other hand, if the cover is very shallow it may be molded fromplastic material in finished nonfoldable form.

The reinforcing ribs on the bottom part of the container may extendalong the free edges of the outer portions of the sheet which form inthe folded position there-of the endless side wall so that in the.folded position the reinforcing ribs form flanges which extend outwardlyfrom the upper edges of the side wall. In this case the cover ispreferably formed with corresponding flanges and the flanges of thebottom portion as well as those of the cover are formed withcorresponding bores therethrough through which connecting means, forinstance screws may extend to fasten in this way the cover to the bottom:portion of the container. Instead of flanges the bottom portion and thecover may also be formed with outward- =ly extending bosses formed withbores therethrough so that the cover may be connected to the bottomportion of the container by screws or other connecting means extendingthrough the bores. If the container should be adapted for the storage orshipping of moist material, material in paste form or liquids, sealingmeans may also be provided between cover and bot-tom portion of thecontainer and in this case the flanges of bottom portion and cover maybe formed in the engaging faces thereof with an elongated endless grooveinto which a sealing means of compressible material may be inserted.

The bottom part of the container and the cover may also be provided withcooperating means which engage each other with a snap action when thecover is pressed on the bottom part of the container to releasably fixthe cover to the bottom part of the container.

The bottom part of the container as well as its cover are formed fromplastic material such as polystyrene or similar plastic material.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a plastic sheet or blank from which thecontainer of the present invention may be formed;

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the sheet shown in FIG. 1 inpartly folded position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 and showing part of theblank in finished folded position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of part of a cover for the container andshowing the same in finished folded position;

FIG. 5 is a partial cross sectional view showing the cover of FIG. 4 inengagement with the bottom part of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view showing a modification of acontainer part in flat position;

I FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view showing the part of FIG. 6 infolded position;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a finished container according tothe present invention preferably used as a shoe box or the like andprovided with ventilating openings;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a container according to the presentinvention and provided with means for connecting a label thereto;

FIG. 10 is a partially perspective view of a modified form of thecontainer according to the present invention and showing reinforcingribs in form of flanges on the bottom part and on the cover of thecontainer; and

FIG. 11 is a partial perspective view of a further modification of acontainer according to the present invention in which the bottom partand cover of the container are provided with connecting bosses.

FIG. 1 of the drawings shows a sheet or plate of plastic material fromwhich the foldable container, respectively the bottom part of thecontainer, of the present invention can be formed. As can be seen fromFIG. 1 the sheet has a plurality of straight peripheral edge portions 3,4' and the sheet is formed inwardly of the edge portions with foldinggrooves 1 extending respectively parallel to edge portions 3', 4' andforming in the sheet narrow strip portions of a thickness smaller thanthat of the remainder of the sheet and defining in the sheet a centralpolygonal portion 2, shown in FIG. 1 as rectangular portion, and betweenthe folding grooves 1 and the peripheral edge portions 3', 4'respectively outer portions 3 and 4. In FIG. 1 all portions of the sheetare shown to be located substantially in one plane and due to thefolding grooves 1 the outer portions 3 and 4 may be easily folded fromthe flat position shown in FIG. 1 into a folded position in which theouter portions extend transverse, or substantially normal, to one sideof the central portion 2 to abut with side edges thereof against eachother to form a continuous side wall of the container, one end wall ofwhich is formed by the central portion 2.

As shown in FIG. 1 the sheet includes further a plurality ofsubstantially triangular connecting portions 5 extending betweenadjacent side edges of the outer portions 3 and 4, integral therewith,and in this case folding grooves 1' are also provided along the sideedges of the outer portions 3 and 4, which folding grooves 1' formcontinuation of the folding grooves 1 defining the central portion 2. Anadditional folding groove 1" is provided in each of the triangularconnecting portions 5 extending from the respective corner of thecentral portion 2 to the periphery of the sheet and dividing each of thetriangular connecting portions 5 into two substantially equal triangularportions 5', 5'. During folding of the sheet shown in FIG. 1 from theflat to the folded position, each triangular connecting portion 5 willbe folded along the folding groove 1" so that in the folded position theequal triangular portions 5', 5' will abut against each other as shownin FIG. 3. FIG. 2, on the other hand, shows an 4 intermediate stepduring the folding in which the outer portions 3 and 4 are partly bentupwardly with respect to the central portion 2 and in which the equaltriangular portions 5, 5 are partly bent along the folding grooves 1 and1".

Means are provided for holding the triangular portions 5, 5 in fullyfolded abutting relationship as shown in FIG. 3 and these means areshown in FIGS. 1-3 as cooperating snap fasteners 6 provided on the equaltriangular portions 5', 5'. The snap fasteners 6 may be made integralwith the equal triangular portion 5 from the same plastic material asthe remainder of the sheet and such snap fasteners may be moldeddirectly during molding of the sheet. Of course, it is also possible tofixedly connect the snap fasteners to the sheet in any well knownmanner, for instance by heat sealing, and in this case the snapfasteners may also be made from metal.

The cover 8 for the container which is shown partly in the perspectiveview of FIG. 4 may be made in a similar manner from a foldable sheet asdescribed above and in this case the central portion of the cover has tobe made to slightly larger dimensions than that of the bottom part ofthe container so that the side wall of the cover may extend around theside wall of the bottom part of the con tainer in abutting relationshipwith the outer surface thereof as shown in part in FIG. 5.

Means are also provided for releasably connecting and holding the cover8 to the bottom part of the container. This means may include thickenedportions 7 formed on the outer portions 4 of the foldable sheet shown inFIG. 1 tapering respectively from the peripheral edge portion 4' towardthe central portion 2 so as to form wedge-shaped noses 7 as clearlyshown in FIG. 2. Cooperating portions 7' are provided on the cover 8extending from the end wall thereof and defining with the side wall ofthe cover 8 a groove having spaced from the end wall of the cover awidth smaller than the maximum thickness of the thickened portion ornose 7 on the side wall portion 4 of the bottom part of the container.When the cover 8 is pressed on the bottom part of the container, thecooperating portions 7 and 7' will engage each other as shown in FIG. 5with a snap action. 7

Instead of forming the cover 8 from a folded sheet similar to that shownin FIG. 1 and as described in connection with FIG. 4, the triangularconnecting portions 5 may also be omitted and a flap 9 may be integrallyformed extending from a side edge of the outer portion of a foldablesheet as shown in a partial perspective view of FIG. 6. It is understoodthat the sheet partially shown in FIG. 6 is provided with foldinggrooves as described before in connection with FIG. 1 which define inthe sheet a central rectangular portion and four outer portions. Whenthe sheet shown in flat condition in FIG. 6 is brought into the foldedposition as shown in FIG. 7 in a partial perspective view, each of theflaps 9, only one of which is shown in FIG. 7, is folded over the outerportion adjacent thereto and cooperating snap fasteners, as describedbefore, are provided on each flap 9 and on the adjacent outer portion sothat the fiap 9 may be held in abutting relationship on the adjacentouter portion as shown in FIG. 7 to hold thereby the flat sheet shown inFIG. 6 in properly folded position. It is understood that flaps 9 withcooperating snap fasteners are provided on each of the corners of thecover 8'.

FIG. 8 shows in a perspective view a finished box according to thepresent invention, which comprises a main portion 1 made from a foldablesheet as described in connection with FIGS. 1-3 and a cover 8 which mayfor instance be formed as described in connection with FIG. 4. The boxshown in FIG. 8 is intended to serve as a shoe box and this box isformed in one or two opposite wall portions thereof with a plurality ofslat-shaped openings 10 and/or a plurality of small round openings 10 sothat air may pass into and out of the closed box. One

small side wall portion, shown in FIG. 8 as the upper side wall portion,may also be provided with keyhole-shaped openings 11 in which theopposite ends of a cord 12 may be anchored in a known manner byproviding at the opposite ends of the cord 12 enlarged rigid portionswhich can be respectively pushed through the circular portions of thekeyhole-shaped openings 11 to slide beneath the slotshaped portion ofthe openings when the central portion of the cord 12 is lifted, to thusanchor the opposite ends of the cord 12 to the container. A grippingmember 13 may also be provided on the cord 12 and if the container shownin FIG. 8 is used as a shoe box the gripping member is preferably in theform of a shoe horn which can be used when the cord 12 is disconnectedat one end thereof from the container and slit out of the openingsformed in the shoe horn 13.

FIG. 9 shows in a perspective view a container similar to that shown inFIG. 8, at least the bottom part thereof is formed from a foldable sheetas described in connection with FIG. 1, and this container is providedon one of the side wall portions thereof with guide rail means 14 whichform a frame open at one side into which a label 15 may be pushed tospecify the contents placed in the container. The guide rail means 14may be molded in one operation with the molding of the foldable sheet,or the guide rail means may also be subsequently connected to the sheet,for instance by a heat sealing operation.

If large size containers are to be formed from a folded sheet asdescribed in connection with FIG. 1, reinforcing ribs may be provided onsome portions of the folded sheet. FIG. shows in a partial perspectiveview a part of a container provided with reinforcing ribs and in themodification shown in FIG. 10 the reinforcing ribs form, when the sheetis in the folded position as shown in the partial view of FIG. 10,outwardly extending flanges 16, a part of one is shown in FIG. 10, andthe cover 8 is provided with corresponding flanges 17, part of one isshown in FIG. 10, engaging the opposite flange 16 on the bottom part 1of the container. The flanges 16 and 17 may be provided only on theupper edges of two opposite side wall portions of the lower part as wellas on the cover of the container, or the flanges 16 and 17 may extendall around these upper edges. A plurality of aligned bores are providedin the flanges 16 and 17 extending therethrough and screws 18 or otherconnecting members may be placed into the bores to securely fasten thecover 8 to the bottom portion 1 of the container. In this case the boresin flange 16 may be formed with internal screw threads or self-tappingscrews may also be used.

Instead of flanges 16 and 17 as shown in FIG. 10, the bottom part of thecontainer 1 and the cover 8 may also be provided on each of the cornersthereof with outwardly extending bosses 19 and 20 as shown in FIG. 11for one of the corners and the bottom part 1 and the cover 8 may be heldtogether by a screw and wing nut connection 21 extending through boresformed in the bosses 19 and 20.

When moist material, or material in paste form, or a liquid is to bestored or shipped in a container according to the present invention,sealing means may also be provided between the bottom part and the coverof the container. In this case the cooperating flanges 16 and 17 asshown in FIG. 10 will preferably extend all around the container andgrooves may be formed in the engaging faces of the flanges 16 and 17into which an annular sealing member for instance a cord of compressiblematerial may be placed.

Instead of providing reinforcing ribs on the side wall portions of thecontainer, the side wall portions may also be strengthened by formingcorrugations into the same and such corrugations may be formed duringmolding of the sheet in flat condition or subsequent thereto.

The plastic sheet shown in FIG. 1 is formed in flat condition frompolystyrene, polyvinyl chloride or similar plastic material. If desired,coloring material may be added to the plastic to give the container anydesired color. The

plastic sheet may be injection molded in its finished form as shown inFIG. 1 and in this case the folding grooves 1, 1' and 1" with a slightlysmaller thickness than the remainder of the sheet may be directly moldedin one operation with the forming of the sheet. In this case the snapfasteners and the nose portions 7 may also be formed simultaneously inone operation. It is also possible to stamp out the configuration of thesheet as shown in FIG. 1 from a large plastic sheet which may be formedby any process well known in the art. In this case the folding groovesare subsequently formed in an additional drawing, stamping or embossingoperation and the snap fastener 6 and nose portions 7, if desired, maybe subsequently connected to the sheet by a heat sealing operation ormay be fastened thereto by any other means well known in the art, forinstance by cementing. When portions of the finished container are to beprovided with reinforcing ribs or with flanges 16 and 17 as shown inFIG. 10 or with bosses 19 or 20 as shown in FIG. 11, the sheet ispreferably injection molded and such reinforcing ribs, flanges or bossesare preferably molded in one operation with the remainder of the sheet.If the side wall portions of the finished container are corrugated tostrengthen the same, such corrugations may be formed during molding ofthe sheet or subsequently thereto by a separate stamping, drawing orembossing operation.

The corrugations may be wave-shaped or of substantially triangular crosssection. The flanges 16 and 17 may be formed as mentioned before withgrooves for the reception of a sealing member, or the flanges may beformed respectively with cooperating groove-and-tongue joints which mayserve as sealing means.

The sheet shown in FIG. 1 may be formed with any thickness sufficient togive the finished container the necessary rigidity andfor largercontainers thicknesses up to 5 to 6 mm. are used. In the latter case,the folding grooves are preferably formed with beveled or inclined sidefaces which will properly abut against each other when the sheet isfolded from the flat to the folded position.

When the cover is very shallow, it may also be formed from plasticmaterial in one piece, not foldable, for instance by an injectionmolding or drawing operation.

The container according to the present invention has the great advantagethat it can be folded from a flat position to a folded position inextremely simple manner and this foldng operation can be carried out byany unskilled person. The container will be maintained in the foldedposition by the snap fasteners in the manner as described above or byany other connecting means formed in the side wall portions of thecontainer. The container can be used for storage or shipment not only ofsolid articles or dry material, but also moist material or material inpaste form or even liquids can be stored and shipped in the containeraccording to the present invention, especially if the container isprovided with sealing means as described above. When the container isnot in use it may evidently be opened up to a flat position in anextremely simple manner by opening the snap fasteners and by unfoldingthe various portion-s of the sheet. In this flat position the containermay be stored when not in use or a plurality of containers may beshipped in flat position to their destination whereby storage andshipment of the containers are greatly simplified. The cover may beconnected to the bottom part of the container in an extremely simplemanner as described especially in connection with FIG. 5 in which coverand bottom part of the container engage each other with a snap action,or if a more secure connection between cover and bottom part of thecontainer is desired, connections as shown in FIGS. 10 or 11 may also beused.

The plastic material from which the containers are preferably made willstand up under extended use and the plastic material will permit storageor shipment of all kinds of material, even certain acids, in thecontainer.

Evidently the container of the present invention can be mass produced ina very efficient manner and therefore at very reasonable cost.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofcontainers differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in afoldable container made from a sheet of plastic material, it is notintended to be limited to the details shown, since various modificationsand structural changes may be made without departing in any way from thespirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal this gistof the present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claim.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a container, in combination, a sheet of plastic material having aplurality of straight peripheral edge portions and being formed inwardlyof said edge portions with folding grooves extending substantiallyparallel to said straight peripheral edge portions respectively equallyspaced therefrom and defining in said sheet a central polygonal portionand between said edge portions and said grooves a plurality of outerportions, each of said outer portions having a pair of side edgesextending substantially normal to said folding grooves between thelatter and said peripheral edge portions, said outer portions beingfoldable along said folding grooves relative to said central portionbetween a flat position in which said portions are located substantiallyin a plane and a folded position in which said outer portions extendtransverse and to one side of the plane of said central portion and abutwith said edges thereof against each other to form a continuous sidewall of a container, one end wall of which is formed by said centralportion, said sheet including further a plurality of substantiallytriangular connecting portions extending between adjacent side edges ofsaid outer portions integral therewith and folding grooves being alsoformed along said side edges and an additional folding groove beingformed in each of said connecting portions extending from said centralportion of said sheet to the periphery thereof and dividing each of saidtriangular connecting portions into two substantially equal triangularportions abutting against each other when said sheet is folded from saidflat to said folded position; and cooperating snap fastener means onsaid equal triangular portions for holding the same in abuttingrelationship and thereby said sheet in said folded position, said snapfastener means being integral with and consisting of the same plasticmaterial as said sheet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,907,513 10/59Thiolat 229-31 2,917,218 12/59 Guyer 22931 2,967,654 1/61 Palmer 220622,989,226 6/61 Swartz 22941 3,032,939 5/ 62 Andersen 220-42 3,058,64510/62 Luterick 22931 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

